1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a tap or tapping head for tapping beverages pressurized by gas. The tapping head can be mounted on a container such as a barrel.
2. The Prior Art
Tapping heads are known in the art. For example, German Patent DE 299 19 616.7 discloses a tapping head that comprises a closing pin that is disposed in a housing and surrounded by a slide that can be moved up and down into the closing position via an actuating lever. This tapping head is designed so that the head space is omitted, so that no venting of the head space is required.
However, with all tapping heads, the beverage outlet of the container closure or fitting is opened first. In addition, the conveying gas closure of the container closure or fitting is opened so that the beverage is able to penetrate the area of the tapping head for the conveying gas as the beverage container is being closed and tapped.
Now, the present invention is designed so that there is a leakage free closing and tapping of the beverage container while the container closure or fitting and the bottom side of the tapping head are disinfected at the same time.
The embodiment of the taping head according to the invention, allows a disinfectant to be conveyed from a disinfectant pump into the area of the valve for connecting the beverage. This design permits the introduction of the disinfectant, the opening of the connection for the conveying gas, and only then the opening of the container closure or fitting. The tapping head can include a housing, and a tapping tappet, which is disposed in the housing. There is also an actuating lever pivotally coupled to the housing. A beverage closing valve is disposed within this housing. This beverage closing valve has at least one channel. There is also a fitting disposed adjacent to an end of the tapping tappet. This fitting has a disinfectant for disinfecting an area of the fitting. This disinfectant is fed first via an actuating lever. Next, the tapping tappet is subsequently moved against a CO2 connector of the fitting so that the beverage closing valve is opened to allow beer to flow.
This design may also include a disinfectant line coupled to the disinfectant pump, a gas conveying valve disposed within the tapping tappet and a plurality of cam disks coupled to the actuating lever. One or more of these cam discs can activate the disinfectant pump, the beverage closing valve, or the tapping tappet, when the actuating lever is activated.